Reviews

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week we are bringing back one of our favourite pieces highlighting the positive impact of meditation on Mental Wellbeing.

Meditation is one of the most ancient and effective practices of combating stress, but how can we incorporate such an old practice into our technology driven lives? Nicola Mouskis explores the importance of meditation and the latest app that helps us weave it into our daily routine.

With fashion designers adopting dual roles and the industry at its fastest pace ever, there has never been a more important time to step back and ‘take ten.’

Last year Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz gave a speech at the FGI (Fashion Group International) Night of Stars awards which embodied the daily pressures imposed on the industry following the rise of social media and other technological developments. “We are living in a smart world. It’s all about smart design, smart product and technology.” Whilst these developments are offering designers creative possibilities beyond their imagination, they are producing 24-hour work schedules that are leaving designers “exhausted.”

Thus, these pressures are producing fatigue and stress levels that are ultimately hindering the innate creative talent that designers depend on. In his book Creativity is Forever, Gary A. Davis pin points the factors that block creative thought such as: high stress levels, fear of criticism and various social anxieties. And so the question arises – what is being done to beat these factors and reduce the effects of stress?

Amongst many of our hippie in heels fads, meditation has been adopted as a practice amongst many within the fashion industry from fashion designers to supermodels; everyone is giving the ancient practice a try. But with a busy 24-hour schedule run by technology it must be hard to incorporate such an ancient practice into our lifestyles – wrong. In a new wave of apps, meditation has become as easy as sending a text message.

It is fundamental that we adopt practices such as meditation

In 2010, former monk Andy Puddicombe co-founded the meditation app Headspace in an effort to make meditation more accessible to the world. Since its launch, more than 150 countries have downloaded the app worldwide. In a brief welcome animation of the app Puddicombe describes Headspace as a ‘gym membership for the mind that can train the mind for a healthier, happier more enjoyable life.’ Expectedly so with evidence published over the years that suggests meditation helps reduce the harmful effects of stressful lifestyles.

Before subscription, the app offers a ‘Take Ten’ program, which consists of ten, ten-minute sessions for ten days. Guiltily, I was slightly sceptical before downloading the app, as I was keen to step away from my phone and any devices that bound me to my work and daily routine. However once I watched the welcome animations and set out with my first ten-minute session I saw the app as an easy introduction to meditation.

I continued the ten days consecutively, finding it difficult at first to remain loyal to taking time out of my day, however by the seventh day I found it easier to incorporate it into my morning routine and sooner or later it became second nature. Whilst the effects were minor and almost unnoticeable, I found that by the end of the ten days my patience for things around me had grown and conversations became easier, I took the time out to listen more. In a recent video blog for Vogue, Puddicombe describes this as the ‘ripple effects’ of meditation and that the positive energies we gain from it are eventually reflected onto others through our calmer state of mind.

By the tenth day I caved and subscribed to the app, looking forward to all the other meditation sessions on offer such as a series on sleep, health and even relationships. One of the most prominent differences I came to identify since using the app was my revived desire to sketch. It seems after introducing myself to meditation I had began to knock down the factors that Davis stated blocked creative thought and in a more recent publication by Preston Bentley, Meditation Made Easy we are told of the benefits meditation has on creativity. He describes the meditative process as one that “strengthens the architectures of your brain allowing you to think faster and visualize better.”

Ultimately with the foundations of our future being built around technology and an ever-growing pace of demands, it is fundamental that we adopt practices such as meditation that enable us to exercise our mind and breaking down boundaries that hinder our creativity and create more of a mindful experience.